


Perfect Imperfections

by CobaltStargazer



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Afterglow, Established Relationship, F/M, Naked Cuddling, Reluctant Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:46:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2712782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltStargazer/pseuds/CobaltStargazer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, 'I like you' is almost as good as 'I love you.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect Imperfections

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to drag myself out of a funk with some cuteness. And work my way up to fulfilling a request for someone. You can either thank or blame John Legend for the title. :-)

"I like you."

Elle was still winded when she said it, and she kissed Spencer on the chin when he slung his arm around her, draping her leg over his hips in response. She was still quivering, the echoes of her orgasm rippling through her. A drop of sweat rolled down the side of her neck, and he caught it with his thumb, then popped the digit into his mouth. The 'mmm' noise he made caused her to snicker.

"I like you, too."

They lay on the rumpled bed, and his heartbeat slowed down as her breathing evened out. This was almost better than what they'd just been doing, the twining of limbs and joining of bodies. Not that he didn't love the look on her face when he was pushing her over the brink, because he did. She'd been the one to call it sexual synergy, and although she'd been kidding he hadn't laughed. But the aftermath, when they were spent and still half-entwined, provided the emotional intimacy they sometimes lacked the words to admit they wanted. Needed.

Eight years ago, this would never have worked. Elle had always treated Spencer like a man, albeit a _young_ man, but the hurdle of being in a relationship with a colleague would have been insurmountable in the past. But although the paths of their lives had diverged, when they'd come back together it had been the right time to try for something more. If anyone had told the profiler back then that one day he'd be seeing Elle Greenaway naked on a regular basis, he would have sputtered and blushed his way through an emphatic denial. In the Now, with her thigh warm and solid below his navel, he was grateful for the long, hard road it had taken to get him to this place.

It wasn't about forgetting the past, although time _had_ helped the wound finally close and scar over. Like the mark on his neck, the events in his life had changed him, and if it hadn't been for Maeve he might never have been emotionally ready for a relationship with Elle, who in many ways was her polar opposite. So he could no more regret having known her than regret having come to love someone new.

"We should put some food together tomorrow, take Maxie to the park and have a picnic. The weather's nice, we oughta make use of it."

Her voice was drowsy, and her index finger was drawing a lazy circle around his right nipple. On paper, this shouldn't have worked. She was abrasive, snarky, and occasionally bloody-minded, and he was analytical, often insecure, and sometimes way too tolerant of others. Including her. But their differences seemed to be the glue that held them together, not a wedge between them. His arm tightened around her as he nodded.

"Sure. I bought some of that macaroni salad you like. I even bought a Frisbee. For us or for the dog, whichever comes first."

Elle laughed quietly, kissed a spot on Spencer's chest. "Always prepared, aren't you?" 

He just nodded, and his hand was on her hip, moving in a slow circle. Summer had come, and he was warm and sleepy and with someone he liked. _Loved_. But the liking made him just as happy. In all of their perfect imperfectness, they were a cohesive whole, the places where they'd been hurt less tender when they were together. 

Yes, he was grateful for the path that had brought him here, if only because it had prepared him for this new thing.

"I like you, Spencer." Even though she was falling asleep, she knew that he heard the thing she didn't say.

"I like you too, Elle."


End file.
